Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has filed an appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court of his suspension without pay through the remainder of his term for an order he issued suggesting probate judges defy federal courts and stop issuing same sex marriage licenses.

Moore on Friday was convicted by the Alabama Court of the Judicary on six charges of violating canons of judicial ethics. The COJ also suspended him without pay for the remainder of his term, which ends in January 2019.

Moore's attorneys with the group Liberty Counsel filed the appeal of the COJ's ruling to the Alabama Supreme Court on Monday.

In a press release issued by Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel on Tuesday, the group questioned why the COJ suspended Moore for the rest of his term while last month it gave Tallapoosa probate judge a six-month suspension for sexting with a woman who had business before him.

"It is unbelievable the seriousness of Judge Archer's perverted sexual actions and yet he only receives a six-month suspension, while Chief Justice Moore is suspended for life," Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel.

"Chief Justice Roy Moore did nothing wrong and he is suspended for the rest of his term without pay, and a sexting judge gets suspended for six months. Where is the justice here? There is none," Staver stated. "The COJ's disparity in punishment and disdain for the law and the rules is a travesty. Liberty Counsel and Chief Justice Moore will continue to fight this battle to restore the rule of law. The case has already been appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court."

The questions Moore's attorneys are asking on appeal are:

- Whether the Judicial Inquiry Commission (which filed the charges based on a complaint by the Southern Poverty Law Center) proved each of the six charges in its Complaint by clear and convincing evidence?

- Whether the Judicial Inquiry Commission violated its own rules and Alabama law by breaching confidentiality during its investigation, or by prosecuting charges without a sworn complaint?

- Whether the JIC and COJ have jurisdiction to investigate or punish judges for issuing administrative orders?

- Whether the automatic suspension of judges when they aer charged by the JIC violates constitutional Due Process guarantees?

- Whether the COJ can impose a de facto removal from office without a unanimous vote?

Moore was suspended based on a complaint about his Jan. 6, 2016, administrative order advising Alabama's probate judges that until there is a further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court the probate judges remained bound by the Alabama Supreme Court's prior (March 2015) writ of mandamus enjoining same-sex marriages. That prior order had been issued several months before the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that same-sex marriage was legal nationwide.

Moore testified at his trial last week that the administrative order he issued in January was just a status report and he wasn't trying to get probate judges to defy the federal courts. The COJ, however, said otherwise.

"Even if it was erroneous, neither the JIC nor the COJ have jurisdiction to investigate and punish the Chief Justice for such error, because this Court retains exclusive jurisdiction over the Administrative Order," The appeal states. "The Judicial Inquiry Commission failed to prove any of its six charges with clear and convincing evidence, and violated its own rules and Alabama law by breaching confidentiality during its investigation and by prosecuting a charge that was never included in a sworn complaint."

"By 'suspending' the Chief Justice without pay for the remainder of his tem1, the COJ essentially removed him from office without a required unanimous vote," Moore's attorneys stated in the appeal.

When Moore was removed from office in 2003 for defying a court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state courts building, a special supreme court was appointed to hear his appeal.